Sterling stuck near 11-month lows vs euro

The British pound slipped against the euro to within a whisker of its weakest since September 2017, hurt by a rally in the single currency and concerns about whether Britain can secure itself a trading deal with the European Union.

Sterling traded down to as low as 90.27 pence per euro, just below the 90.30 pence mark it hit earlier this month – its weakest in 11 months.

Against a broadly weaker dollar the pound edged higher, up 0.2 percent on the day at $1.2834.

Sterling has had a tough August, whacked by mounting concerns Britain could crash out of the EU without new trading arrangements in place on its scheduled exit day in March next year.

“Fears of a ‘no deal Brexit’ fears are reaching fever pitch … Sterling has no support other than a bearish consensus and a low valuation,” said Kit Juckes, chief FX strategist at Societe Generale.

The biggest losses have come against a resurgent dollar, with weakness against the euro more contained.

Britain’s Brexit minister Dominic Raab this week said London can get a trade deal before an informal October deadline, but has also laid out the government’s plans in the case of a no-deal exit.

EU leaders, on the other hand, expect to miss the deadline and are likely to have to hold and emergency summit in November to consider any Brexit agreement struck with Britain, diplomats in Brussels said this week.

Analysts at ING said in an note that the profound worries about Britain not clinching a deal with the EU could see the pound on Friday drop to a fresh 11-month low versus the euro.